Faithful
by LauraCeleste
Summary: A vignette about faithfulness. Malon's side of the story. Part 3 in the series after "Unrequited" and "Resuscitation".


*********************************************************************

:: Faithful ::  
Part 3 of 3 -- A Legend of Zelda Vignette  
By LauraCeleste

Special thanks to the LOZFF scribes for their honesty, respect, and  
overall coolness. You gals/guys keep quality LOZ fic going strong!

*********************************************************************

:: Foreword ::**  
**We've heard from Zelda about her unrequited love towards Link in "Unrequited".  
(http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=430871)

We've heard from Link about why he left and how he regrets it all in "Resuscitation".  
(http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=574327)

And now, we hear from Link's long-suffering wife, Malon, in "Faithful". I greatly hope that  
you will gain a whole new appreciation for the character Malon after having read this  
trilogy, as I certainly did while writing it.

********************************************************************

My husband did not come home last night.

After the Celebration of Spring he put me in our buggy and handed me the reins, telling me to go home, and he would return later.

And I believed him.

I had to comfort him at your castle because seeing you troubled him so. Then he left me, saying he wanted to make sure you were okay. I read his motives in his eyes, troubled but so passionate, more so than I have ever seen him. Only you can bring out that passion.

I know he spent the night there. I know he is with you. Is he with you now? 

I pull my covers up to my neck and try to chase away the chill, but it is persistent. Sleep will be long in coming tonight. My husband is not sleeping, so why should I be? I am sure he is more favorably engaged at the moment. Yet I am not jealous, I have never been. Though he swore he loves me, I know it is never true. He cannot love me. I know it when he stands at the window and glares at your castle. When he stands there, I know where his heart lies.

When I married him I knew I would never wholly own him. I am content to hold just a little home in his heart, no matter how small. I shall love him with all of mine.

Because I am faithful.

My job is to comfort, to console, to caress. I play the happy home maker, he is my helpful husband. I do not hold him back when he needs to be free, nor do I trouble him when he is moody. In between we run our ranch and he farms the small parcel of farmland we own. I believe the hard labor takes his mind off things for awhile, for when I visit him in the fields he is in good spirits. But then the evening falls and he returns to me a shell of a man, pining for something he let slip through his fingers like sand. 

I know he will return, eventually. I am always faithful.

The wait is excruciating as the night is long, and the bed is cold without him. Dawn breaks, and he still has not returned. I cannot help but think of you, and I wonder if you appreciate him. I wonder if you know what you have, and if you even care. You had your choice of the men in this world -- why him? Why my husband?

But then I remember; he was yours before he was mine. 

I hear our door open downstairs and I hurriedly jump out of bed. I throw on a robe over my nightgown and scurry down the stairs. The chill has already absorbed what little heat the tiny room could keep. I have gooseflesh from my toes to the top of my head, and my scalp crawls. Perhaps it is not so much the temperature, however, as the mixture of happiness and bitterness I feel. 

He stands before the door, regarding me sadly. His cheeks and nose are reddened from the cold and his eyes are filled with guilt. There is something else in his eyes, a little something left over from the night. He cannot hide it.

I silently put some water on the stove to boil for coffee. He removes his coat and hat and hangs them on their peg beside the door. We are back to our old routine. 

He sits at the table and watches me as I begin to make breakfast. His eyes are clouded, and I can no longer understand their feelings. I do, however, know what memories lurk behind them. I know.

But I am faithful. Though he is not. 

~FINIS~

*******************************************************************

If you've read the other two stories, thank you for sticking with me through this little "affair to remember."  
If you have not yet read Unrequited and Resuscitation, I encourage you to do so, as they precede the story mentioned here.  
Above all, thank you for reading! 

~~@~~LauraCeleste~~@~~  
the_lone_gungirl@yahoo.com  
IE Browsers: http://celestial.topcities.com


End file.
